A woman was found dead after struggling with chronic pain, a coroner’s court heard.

Devinder Malle’s body was discovered in her black Citroen C3 parked in a layby on the B4030 between Middleton Stoney and Bicester on July 4 last year.

The police officers who found the 54-year-old from Kenilworth after her car plate ‘pinged’ their automatic numberplate recognition system.

Warwickshire Police had registered the plate after her family reported her missing the previous day.

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On Wednesday (March 8), Oxford Coroner’s Court heard that the officers discovered a number of empty packets of prescription medication in the car as well as a knife that had apparently been used to injure her arms.

An envelope addressed to her family contained a note that began simply: “Sorry.”

Senior coroner Darren Salter said it was not his practice to read such notes in public but told the inquest: “It is indicative of Devinder having decided to end her life.”

In a statement summarised to the inquest, Sgt Christopher Ruff said he had smashed the car window in order to unlock the vehicle as Mrs Malle, who was slumped on the passenger seat, was not responding to him or his colleague.

Mr Ruff said rigor mortis had set in and, after a constable from Thames Valley Police’s roads policing unit arrived, the officers decided that life-saving attempts would not be successful.

Mrs Malle was formally pronounced dead at 11.45am, around an hour after officers found her car.

Post-mortem tests found that she had died from an overdose of Amitriptyline, an anti-depressant sometimes used to treat neuropathic pain and migraines.

Levels of the prescription medication in her blood were 10 times normal therapeutic levels.

A CID investigator, Stephanie Chase, said she was satisfied there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding the woman’s death.

Similarly, there was no evidence of any third party involvement, the inquest heard.

Mrs Malle’s family said she had struggled with chronic back and ankle pain, for which she was receiving treatment.

Her husband, Sukhdev, said she had made comments "like 'this it no life', I never thought you’d end up being my carer”’ and had once said to him that she had "thought about ending it".

Together with his daughter, he had last seen her on the night of Friday, July 1, when she had seemed more upbeat.

When the father-and-daughter returned from the supermarket on Saturday morning, Mrs Malle had left the house.

Efforts to reach her by phone were unsuccessful, the inquest heard.

It was not until Sunday lunchtime that the family reported her missing, believing – wrongly – that you had to wait 24 hours before reporting a missing person.

Describing Mrs Malle’s case as "sad and tragic", senior coroner Mr Salter recorded a conclusion of suicide.

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